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but no European could have credibly believed that the disease would spread throughout the new world to such effect. Certainly not, but once they figured out wh

but no European could have credibly believed that the disease would spread throughout the new world to such effect. Certainly not, but once they figured out what was going on, they certainly aided and abetted the spread of these new diseases.

throwaway894345 5y ago
They didn’t find out what was going on until the 20th century… Before that they thought it was God’s judgment on the heathens or something.
- tomrod 5y ago
  They sent blankets used by infected people. They didn't understand germ theory, but they understood contagion.
  - 0xBDB 5y ago
    You should probably know that there is literally not one fully confirmed case of this ever happening. https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/3qslhq/where_smallpox_blankets_really_a_thing/ https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/3qslhq/where...
    - caethan 5y ago
      There's one, at Fort Pitt during the French and Indian war, as documented by multiple letters, as described in your link.
  - wwtrv 5y ago
    Didn’t the first documented cases of this occurs a hundred of more years after most of the natives had already died (18th vs the 16th century)? By the time Europeans started colonizing NA most of locals had already died to the diseases spreading from the south.
    - tomrod 5y ago
      In my reference, I acknowledge that how I used "they" was ambiguous. I meant people practicing war before germ theory. If we ignore this example, we still have dead and infected bodies/livestock being catapulted into cities.
  - throwaway894345 5y ago
    I acknowledged that much, but my point is they had no idea that these “new people” had no immunity and that the sickness would tear through the population so effectively. Moreover, “they” isn’t “all Europeans”—we need to be careful who we blame or else we verge on racism ourselves.
pbhjpbhj 5y ago
Which particular people? Was it like military people under orders from European leaders? Maybe someone could help me understand -- with such a prolific practice it must have been diaried and such? What are the best primary/secondary sources detailing the practice. I've heard the "they gave blankets but they knew the blankets had smallpox infection". But we presumably know who the they were. Presumably a lot of the colonists were sick as well. But not sick enough that the indigenous population noticed and stayed away. I guess people's capacity for evil is always greater than one can imagine.
- caethan 5y ago
  There is exactly one documented case of deliberate attempts to spread smallpox among the Indians, from the British during the French & Indian war. https://www.history.com/news/colonists-native-americans-smallpox-blankets https://www.history.com/news/colonists-native-americans-smal...

throwaway894345 5y ago

They didn’t find out what was going on until the 20th century… Before that they thought it was God’s judgment on the heathens or something.

tomrod 5y ago
They sent blankets used by infected people. They didn't understand germ theory, but they understood contagion.
- 0xBDB 5y ago
  You should probably know that there is literally not one fully confirmed case of this ever happening. https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/3qslhq/where_smallpox_blankets_really_a_thing/ https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/3qslhq/where...
  - caethan 5y ago
    There's one, at Fort Pitt during the French and Indian war, as documented by multiple letters, as described in your link.
- wwtrv 5y ago
  Didn’t the first documented cases of this occurs a hundred of more years after most of the natives had already died (18th vs the 16th century)? By the time Europeans started colonizing NA most of locals had already died to the diseases spreading from the south.
  - tomrod 5y ago
    In my reference, I acknowledge that how I used "they" was ambiguous. I meant people practicing war before germ theory. If we ignore this example, we still have dead and infected bodies/livestock being catapulted into cities.
- throwaway894345 5y ago
  I acknowledged that much, but my point is they had no idea that these “new people” had no immunity and that the sickness would tear through the population so effectively. Moreover, “they” isn’t “all Europeans”—we need to be careful who we blame or else we verge on racism ourselves.

pbhjpbhj 5y ago

Which particular people? Was it like military people under orders from European leaders? Maybe someone could help me understand -- with such a prolific practice it must have been diaried and such? What are the best primary/secondary sources detailing the practice. I've heard the "they gave blankets but they knew the blankets had smallpox infection". But we presumably know who the they were. Presumably a lot of the colonists were sick as well. But not sick enough that the indigenous population noticed and stayed away. I guess people's capacity for evil is always greater than one can imagine.

caethan 5y ago
There is exactly one documented case of deliberate attempts to spread smallpox among the Indians, from the British during the French & Indian war. https://www.history.com/news/colonists-native-americans-smallpox-blankets https://www.history.com/news/colonists-native-americans-smal...